


Will you catch me if I fall?

by Agent0069



Series: let me fall [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternative Universe - FBI, FBI Agent Magnus bane, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Thief Alec Lightwood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:21:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26355643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agent0069/pseuds/Agent0069
Summary: Alec is desperate, he has to bring down the Lightwoods, if not for him then for Max's sake. He's been trying to fulfil their demands for years, but they are nothing if not cunning, so he had decided to do it his way. He can't let his Max go through any more cruelty at their hands than what he had endured already. And the one person he turns to for help is Magnus. The very same Magnus who is supposed to put him behind bars, but as he'd said before, he's desperate.And as odd as it sounds Alec, despite being a white-collar criminal, needs FBI Agent Magnus to live. who for some incomprehensible reason seems to trust Alec as much as he trusts him.This is part two of "Fall for me (don’t)" Where the actual action takes place. This story won't make much sense if you haven't read that one.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: let me fall [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1895035
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Will you catch me if I fall?

**Author's Note:**

> "**" mark long jump in time.

Magnus released a tiring breath as he opened the door to his apartment, his watch read 1: 17 am, it had been an exceptionally tiring day. He toed off his boots and didn’t bother with switching on the lights as he stripped on the way to his bedroom, he needed a bath, a nice hot soothing bath and- oh and plot Raj’s murder.

Raj was his coworker and the most annoying prick in the history of annoying pricks. Questioning Magnus’s every judgement and going to their department head, Luke, behind his back, adding more problems to his plate, as if he didn’t have enough of them already.

Magnus took out his favourite Lavender & Glitter bath bomb and watched as it melted into a shimmering purple in the water. The fresh fragrance of Lavender filled his nostrils as he stepped into the water. Magnus moaned softly as he settled deep, warm water gently massaging over and soothing the tense aching muscles.

He heard a meow and saw chairman meow’s head peek through the half-open door to the bathroom.

“Chairman, come here.” Magnus stretched his arm and motioned him to come closer, but the cat seemed to have a different wish, he swished his tail around and left. “Bad kitty.” He grumbled.

The water started to run cold sooner than Magnus would have prefered so he ruefully got up and took a quick shower to get the feel of soap off his skin.

“Chairman,” Magnus called out as he stepped out of the bathroom, where did he go? He’s usually stuck to my leg when I come home.

Magnus wandered into the living room in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. The room was plunged in darkness, he heard a purr from behind him and turned. Magnus jumped in surprise when he saw that standing in one corner of the room was Alec-fucking-xander, petting his fucking cat, that traitor! He left Magnus to get pets from Alec.

“What the fuc- how did you get in!?” Magnus half screamed,

“Ouch, is that how you welcome your guests?”

Magnus rolled his eyes, “I even blocked the window after the last time, what did you do now?”

Alec scoffed, getting down on one knee to put Chairman on the ground, “you really underestimate me, don’t you Magnus?”

“You really forget I’m an FBI agent, don’t you?”

Alec barked out a laugh then shook his head a bit fondly, “I picked the lock on your front door.”

Magnus released a frustrated groan, glaring at him. “You could just come the normal way!”

Alec licked his lips, smirking. “And how do you want me to come?”

Magnus’s cheeks heated up, he didn’t want to think which ‘come’ Alec was talking of. Magnus rolled his eyes to calm his flustered self when he saw Alec’s smirk turn into a devilish grin on seeing the effect his words had had on Magnus.

“...or where-”

“Shut up” Magnus squeaked as Alec burst out laughing.

“Okay, okay, I’ll be serious, we should discuss our plans...so you might want to get dressed, but for the record, I’m absolutely fine with you half-naked,” Alec said, eyeing his naked chest with keen interest. “I’d actually prefer it without the towel”

Magnus had forgotten that he was only wearing his towel, “yes..um. I’m going to..yeah”

Alec mock bowed at him as he dashed back to his room to fetch his clothes. Magnus haphazardly put on some sweats and a t-shirt, trying not to think about the look of hunger on Alec’s face..nO don’t go there! He’s a criminal who needs you to bring down some Mafia, is he really a bad guy if he wants to do good? Magnus caught himself, one good deed does not erase many bad ones. A tiny part of his brain rolled its eyes, he’s a thief who doesn’t even harm a hair on anyone’s head to get the job done, he can’t be that bad-

“Did you fall asleep?” Alec’s voice from the living room startled Magnus.

He threw the towel into the hamper and walked out of the bedroom. Magnus saw Alec’s silhouette on the couch, he hadn’t switched on the lights either. Good, he didn’t want the hard white lights pulsing against his lids after the day he’s had, so he chose to light the dim LED that was installed for days like this which lit the room with a light yellow glow.

Magnus threw himself on the armchair that faced the couch Alec was sitting on. Alec was smiling fondly at the purring chairman on his lap as he scratched him behind the ear.

“How did you do it?”

“Do what?” Alec’s head snapped up to look at Magnus curiously, “pick the lock? It’s hardly appropriate to teach a cop the secrets of my trade.”

Magnus shook his head. “Chairman doesn’t like anyone besides me, he barely tolerates my friends when they visit me. It’s very odd for him to graciously accept a stranger scratching him and purr loudly at that.”

“Aww chairman,” Alec cooed. “You love me, don’t you? I am somewhat special.” Alec kissed Chairman on the nose, making the cat headbutt him.

Magnus smiled at the two, he does like a man who’s good with animals. If Chairman likes Alec, he couldn’t be a bad person.

Magnus cleared his throat, getting Alec’s attention.

Alec gently put Chairman on the ground who looked pleadingly at Alec and meowed a couple of times before leaving to settle on his bed. Alec followed his progress to the bed before turning to Magnus. “Right, back to business.”

“Yes.”

“..so? Did you find anything on the lightwoods in the FBI database?”

“I searched but I don't have the level of clearance to access the files.”

Alec looked a bit put out, “Do you have an idea who would?”

“My best guess is Luke, he’s the head of our department-”

“And you can’t go into his office and get them?”

Magnus scoffed, “This is the FBI field office we're talking about, it’s not that easy. We’ve got cameras keeping track of every movement, I can’t just up and walk into his office, I'll be incarcerated! I am not very inclined to get caught trying to steal information, and why should I put myself into a situation like that for you? What is your fascination with the Lightwoods anyway?”

“What, putting criminals behind jail not a good enough reason for you?”

Magnus rolled his eyes, “it’s good for me, I don’t understand why it’s so important for you.”

“That is none of your concern,” Alec said harshly. He had always seen Alec joke around with stuff, this must be something important to garner such a reaction from him.

“You expect me to put myself in a situation that could turn out to be very catastrophic without you giving me any reason? That’s hardly fair now, if I’m to play with fire I need a good enough reason.”

Alec heaved a sigh, he rubbed his eyes and threw his head back on the couch, “we had this conversation the last time.”

“That was before I was committing a felony to help you. Why don’t you become an official witness? Help the bureau to bring them down.”

“And live the rest of my life in fear? Magnus, how much do you know about the lightwoods?”

He knew that the lightwoods were responsible for killing his birth father, who was- let’s face it, not a good person either and not the father of the year. Magnus had been quite indifferent to his death, but the death had made him realise that the Lightwoods were ruthless if they could kill one of their own. “Enough to hate them-”

“And there’s worse, okay? Much worse. How do you suppose they’ve been eluding every institution? They have officials in their pockets. I can’t tell you why I want to take them down, but what I can tell you is that I won’t back down even if you chose to not help me. I can absolutely find my own damn way to bring them down, it’ll be a little harder but I will manage.”

Magnus bit the inside of his cheeks, “why did you choose me?”

Alec smiled, “because you saw grey where others only noticed the black. Because you didn’t shoot me in the face, the first time we met,” Alec sat on the edge of his seat and peered into Magnus’s eyes. “And because you are not only great, you're good.”

Magnus averted his eyes, no one had ever said that to him, he half wondered if Alec was lying through his ass and trying to flatter him to join him. But the other half shushed him, he had looked into Alec’s eyes and eyes don’t lie.

Magnus was silent, he bit his bottom lip, is it worth trusting a criminal? What if Alec too betrays Magnus like the tens of people before him had. But you already trust him and loov- shut up, his brain rolled eyes at his denial. Sure, hun, you don’t feel anything for him. Happy?

“Okay,” Magnus finally broke the silence. “How do you propose we do it?”

Alec licked his lips, oh he has to stop doing that! “Simple, we break into the FBI.”

Magnus choked on air, “I’m sorry WHAT?”

“You underestimate me, Magnus.”

*****

Two days later Magnus found himself sipping his 8 am coffee as he approached the FBI field office. He had a Bluetooth earpiece on him which was made such that it resembled the earphones Magnus usually wore to work, modified to function as a comm.

“I hope you know how much I’m risking by doing this, it better work Alexander,” Magnus muttered.

“Do you trust me, Magnus?” Alec’s voice filtered through the comms.

Does he, he shouldn’t right? Magnus chewed his bottom lip, but you do Magnus.

“I do.”

“Then trust me when I say that I won't let anything happen to you, I’ll save you at the cost of my life.”

Magnus’s breath stuttered at his chest, Alec sounded like he meant those words beyond their little break-in plan and Magnus didn’t know what to do with that information.

“That’s a big promise you’re making Alexander,” Magnus said as he climbed up the steps to the main doors and waited for security to check him.

“I know.”

Magnus cracked the joints of his neck, “okay, here we go. I’m in”

Magnus greeted Tessa on his way to the lift, he had to play the part that it was a perfectly normal day. Just another normal day.

Okay, back to the matter at hand.

Step one: find out the company who repaired electrical mishaps for the office.

As if that’s an easy task! Magnus grumbled, Alec had left all the boring and difficult tasks to him.

He walked into the bullpen, Aline was already there, she reached out a box of donuts to him.

“Ooo what’s the occasion?” Magnus asked, trying to pick the caramel and chocolate one for himself when she stopped him.

“That one’s for Helen.”

“Oh, so that’s the special occasion? Trying to woo Helen, how very old fashioned,” Magnus remarked, deciding on the dark chocolate one. “She’ll love it.”

Aline licked her lips nervously, “you think so?”

“I know so.” Magnus winked at her and left to find his table.

“You know so, huh Magnus” Alec teased. “Is that how you’d like to be wooed? How about poetry, and flowers? What is your favouri-”

“Alexander,” Magnus whispered. “Shut up.”

He could hear Alec rolling his eyes. Damn him. “Okay, I’ll shut up. But first, tell me what your favourite flower is.”

Magnus didn’t reply for a while. “Gladiolus.” He said so quietly that if Alec hadn’t been listening too closely, he’d have missed it. Magnus had never told anyone about that, not there had been any people to ask what his favourite flower was...and he didn’t even tell Alec why they were his favourite, but still, sharing this seemingly useless piece of information felt like sharing a part of him. A part of him he had sworn not to let anyone in on.

Magnus cleared his throat again as he put his bag under the desk and took his seat. He looked around, there was only him, Aline and Joel. Joel might know something...

“Hey, Jo! Long time no see” Shit, this is not how he speaks, act natural!

“So natural Magnus, wow” Alec’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

Joel looked at him and imitated his enthusiasm, “Magnus! Hello”

“Uh, yeah...I was wondering if you know any good electrical repair companies? One of my friends needs a competent one after..a mishap.”

Joel seemed to ponder a while, “umm..you could try Dandelions & Co.”

That’s an electrical company’s name? Sounds like you could get nice bath bombs in there, that reminded him he has to buy some. “Do you know anyone who hires them?”

“Well, I do.”

Magnus groaned internally, “well she does have a huge house by the beach, do you know any who are hired by companies?”

“There’s Branwell & Co. They’re the ones serving major companies..um, what’s that company’s name? Loss Enterprises I think”

Magnus hummed noncommittally, He can’t just outright ask him which company their office uses, that’ll draw suspicion on him if their plan is badly executed leading the FBI to look for loose ends. He’ll just have to hound at Joel till he says what Magnus wants to hear.

“How does he even know this?” Alec says, curious.

“He’s the nerdiest of all nerds, if anyone knows it, it’s him” Magnus whispered back.

He once again turned to Joel, “any other that comes to your mind?”

“Well..there’s also Cassidy & Cornel, but they are for all things maintenance and stuff...Oh, and Branwell & Co. is also the main repairman for our offices. Then there’s also-”

Ah finally, “Thanks Jo, I’ll suggest these names to my friend.”

“No problem, Amigo!”

Magnus swivelled around in his seat with newfound vigour. He could feel Alec’s smug smile.

“Now, that wasn’t so hard was it?” Ah there it is, Alec with his ‘I told you so’

“Yeah yeah, you had said so. Now, get working.”

“Aye Aye captain!” Alec said in a mock-serious voice and went to acquire a uniform for his disguise while Magnus started on a few reports before he set the wheels of their elaborate plan into motion.

It was nearing noon when Magnus finally pushed his chair away from the desk and stretched.

Time for step two: Create the cause, AKA trash the electrical network.

They had picked the date of their break-in such that the department would be completely empty during the lunch break. And luckily Helen’s birthday was coming up, so Magnus had proposed to Aline that they should plan a surprise for her, which she had readily taken upon herself to plan. The lengths you go to for romancing, Magnus thought. Bitch, you’re committing a damn crime for the same, you can’t complain shit about it.

“Magnus,” he heard Aline call him

“Yes, my dear?”

“It’s ten minutes to lunch, wrap it up. We’ll be late for Helen’s surprise!”

Magnus looked around, “where are the others?” he had been so engrossed in work, that he hadn’t noticed that they were the only two left.

“They have already left, one half to get the cake, the other half to distract Helen and get her to the venue. Now? Come on.”

“Yes, yes.” Magnus stood up, “gimme a moment, washroom.”

Magnus waved a dismissive hand to Aline’s “be fast” and looked around before entering the washroom.

He checked if any cubicle was occupied and when he was satisfied that no one was present apart from him, Magnus locked the door.

During the two days of their extensive research and planning, Alec had somehow procured the layout of the FBI office. “It’s a trade secret Magnus” Alec had told him, and Magnus had scoffed, “you and your “trade secrets” ”

Their main concern had been the cameras, so they searched and to their delight, found out that the cameras were powered by a circuit which was placed..wait for it..on the other side of the same washroom wall Magnus was currently occupying.

“How dumb of them,” Alec had laughed. But Magnus had thought it was rather smart of them, hiding valuable information in plain sight, no one would suspect it.

The room which shared the wall to the washroom which was basically a storeroom and in there was the circuit, no one without the layouts and internal information could have made the connection. Which made Magnus wonder all the more how Alec had found the information.

“Did you do it?” Alec’s voice said in his ear.

“Yeah, in a minute.” Magnus stipped off his blazer and hung it on a hook then got into the cubicle they had marked as the one which would give easy access. He climbed onto the closed seat and reached up to dislodge the fake roof.

The plan was to drop a capsuled explosive engineered to serve their purpose. The capsule contained white phosphorus, which readily combusts at 30 °C and the covering was made of a substance which got eroded very fast when exposed to air. The combusting covering would provide enough heat to ignite the white phosphorus.

Magnus pulled himself up by the partitioning wall and moved the false roof of the storage room on the other side of the wall. New offices, he scoffed, they compromise on cement and pay the price by repairing burnt circuit boards and wires.

"Be careful, Magnus."

"Yeah yeah, don't worry." Magnus situated himself on the half-built separation wall and pulled out a plastic case from his pocket.

The capsule was stored in oil to prevent premature contact with oxygen, they couldn't risk getting Magnus’s pants on fire.

Magnus extracted the capsule from the oil-filled plastic case and wiped off the excess oil sticking to the capsule body with his handkerchief.

"Here goes nothing" Magnus breathed out as he slightly opened the glass lid which covered the circuit and dropped the capsule in the jungle of wires.

While planning, Magnus had raised objections that he can't just set a bunch of wires aflame, it could be catastrophic; and only after Alec had assured him that the FBI weren't a bunch of morons did he agree.

On the very unlikely chance that the smoke alarms in the circuit rooms went off, the lights flashed red thrice before the case was sealed off completely and the air inside it was vacuumed out through a pump installed in the vents, which killed the fire in the glass box which surrounded the circuit.

Magnus wiped his fingerprints off the glass and quickly got down putting the false roofs back in place.

"Done." Magnus said as he washed his hands and rushed to get back to a waiting Aline.

"Good, phase II is in motion," Alec replied before going silent.

"About time," Aline said impatiently when she saw Magnus jogging up to her.

Magnus rolled his eyes, "I was gone for barely 4 minutes, don't worry, your girl won't cut the cake without you."

"She's not my girl."

"not yet" "not yet" they said in unison as they left the premises.

Magnus was walking alongside Aline to reach Taki’s across the street which was more familiar to them than their own kitchen.

“Can I give Raj’s head on a platter as her birthday gift?”

They were both doubling over with laughter when someone crashed into him, spilling coffee on his front.

And this was Step 3: Spill coffee on Magnus. Right on time alec.

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry.” Alec’s fake apologetic voice did things to him.

They had planned to drop coffee on Magnus’s clothes so he could make excuses to leave the diner early.

Magnus could see the underlying laugh in Alec’s sad wincing face as he dabbed at Magnus’s shirt with a handkerchief. Oh, he must be happy, Magnus had told him not to spill too much but that bastard! Alec had devastated his shirt and blazer. IT WAS DESIGNER OKAY?!

“It’s fine,” Magnus gently nudged Alec off him.

“So sorry, man,” Alec said again, Magnus waved his apology away and went his way.

“That's gonna stain bad,” Aline said with sympathy.

“I’ll just leave the party early and change into an extra and wash a bit of it off,” Magnus said as he pushed at the door to Taki’s and held it open for her.

They were on a clock, the timer had started when Magnus had crashed into Alec who had slyly pressed the little button on his watch, starting the countdown for 25 minutes...he had to leave the party in 23 minutes 45..44..43 seconds..41..

~~flow of events continue but POV changes to Alec’s~~

Alec threw his now empty coffee cup into a nearby trash can as he walked up to the street on which the Bureau was located. He had a bag slung over his shoulder which had the uniform of Branwell & Co. and a smart suit to help him blend among the staff and get out of the office.

Alec licked his lips, he looked at his watch, 5 mins for the repairmen to arrive. Though Alec had known that the company was very efficient and one of the best, he hadn’t expected their speciality to be that they reached the client location within 15 minutes. Alec had observed them for the better part of his day, he now knew enough about them to know exactly how his plan would progress.

Alec slid into a small alley between two closely placed buildings and changed into their uniform, the pants were inconspicuous enough so he had been wearing them the entire time. He just slipped into the company jacket and put on a cap.

Step 4: Infiltrate.

“I’m going in..in 5..4..” Alec whispered to Magnus when he saw the company van arrive and jogged up to it. “3..” he hid behind a tree and behind the van as they got down. “..2” the others didn’t notice him, they marched ahead towards the service door as Alec a few steps behind them, “..1,” he said as the guard closed the door behind him.

“I’m in.”

Alec heard Magnus release a sigh of relief.

Okay, now to the main event. Alec stayed behind trying not to draw attention to himself as the others joked about how the FBI is, he stifled a laugh and slunk behind as the group of 6 made their way up the stairwell.

Once there was enough distance between him and the others he stopped and stripped, changing into the suit. Alec stuffed the other clothes into his bag and put it into a black waste bag, tied it, then put it into a dustbin. He’ll fetch it on his way out.

“Magnus, don’t be late.” Alec licked his lips nervously as he made up to the floor Luke’s office was located on.

“Trust me,” Magnus whispered a moment later.

I do. A little too much.

Step 5: Extract the information.

The department floor was empty, just like Magnus had said, Alec found his insides warm up at that thought. He had a soft smile as he approached Luke's office and shouldered it open, he can’t afford to leave prints in case something goes awry.

Alec pulled out gloves from his pocket and went around the desk to open his laptop. Alec pulled out the list of every password on Luke's laptop and proceeded to type the one to log him in the account only to find out that it was already open.

“Is he not a tech-savvy person?”

Alec hadn’t expected an answer, he was used to working alone and musing his thoughts out loud so when a voice spoke in his head he startled. He had forgotten Magnus was connected to him.

“Not really I suppose,” Magnus said. “Oh, and I’ve left, I’m on time.”

“Good, you’d make a great criminal Magnus.”

“Yeah, right.” Magnus’s sarcastic voice made him smile.

Alec shook his head, back to the matter at hand. He clicked on the minimised window with the federal logo and stilled.

The words “Lightwoods” stared back at him from the screen. What the... Was Magnus’s superior helping the Lightwoods? Alec squinted as he scrolled through the document. He clicked back and found an entire folder labelled “The Lightwoods.”

Alec sucked in a breath, he bit his lip, he couldn’t tell Magnus about this now, not when they were in the middle of a mission. Magnus looked up to Luke, saw him as a father, or rather more than that if the way Magnus spoke of him was anything to go by.

Alec quietened the part of him that screamed that something is wrong and inserted his pendrive to copy everything. He then cleared all command history from the computer and arranged everything the way it was when he had entered.

Alec found his brain muddled with stray thoughts but he steeled himself and walked up to the office door to open it when Magnus's urgent whisper jolted him to the present, his hands stilling on the handle.

“Don’t come out, Luke is here.”

**Author's Note:**

> I love hearing from you guys! Leave me a comment and/ or kudos if you like the story. Thank you for reading ♥♥


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